By Monday, review at least two of your classmate’s submissions ( please use the two submissions attached) using the Peer Review Questions provided below.
Peer Response Questions
By the end of the week, respond to two peers’ essays, using the following questions:
- Does the introduction have an attention-getting opener? Does the introduction give the author and title of the poem? Does the introduction have a thesis statement as its final sentence? Does the thesis offer an interpretation that is clear and specific? What are your suggestions for the introduction and thesis?
- Is each body paragraph organized around a key point? Do the paragraphs offer support with direct quotations from the poem? Are the quotes and examples analyzed and explained? Do you disagree with any parts of the analysis? What aspects of the poem are left unexplained? Do you have any suggestions for improving the body paragraphs?
- Does the conclusion summarize the main points? Does it have a strong ending that leaves the reader satisfied? Do you have suggestions for improving the conclusion?
“Nothing Gold Can Stay” is a poem written in 1923 by Robert Frost. This
poem touches on the fleeting passage of time. The changes of nature
through the seasons of the year, the changes between morning, noon,
and evening of the day, are all ways to mark the passage of time. Gold is
easily bent and broken due to the extremely soft nature of the metal. The
fair market value of gold also experiences rather wild fluctuations, so the
value of it is as fleeting as the passage of time. The short length of the
poem is another illustration of how quickly time passes since it does not
take much time at all to read the poem in its entirety. The imagery used
within the poem helps to clarify and relate to the theme of time passing.
“Nature’s first green is gold/ Her hardest hue to hold” (Frost, 1923, Lines
1-2), indicates the passage of time from fall, when the leaves are golden,
red, and brown, to spring, when the leaves grow back fresh and green.
The passage of seasons within a year are clearly marked by the
changes in nature. The second line is a reference to how quickly nature
turns brown and wilted when it is not properly cared for, or in cases of
drought, or late freezes in nature.
“Her early leaf’s a flower;/ But only so an hour” (Frost, 1923, Lines 3-4),
is another indicator of seasonal changes. The flowers pop up in the
spring but often wilt in the summer if they do not receive enough water,
or too much heat. While the flowers are beautiful when they first emerge
from the ground, and begin to bloom, they are still quickly replaced with
drooping, brittle, and brown stalks that have pale petals that crumble to
dust at the slightest breeze. The usage of the time marker of an hour
indicates that the flower does not last long before it goes away.
“Then leaf subsides to leaf./ So Eden sank to grief” (Frost, 1923, Lines
5-6), also references the passage of seasons by the turning of the
leaves. The green leaves of spring subside to the browning leaves of fall.
The Garden of Eden, while a wonderful paradise designed for
humankind, has sunk to grief since Adam and Eve were cast out of the
garden and there is no longer a caretaker for the gardens.
“So dawn goes down to day./ Nothing gold can stay.” (Frost, 1923, Lines
7-8), indicates changes in time during the day. The passage of time from
early morning, into the full light of day, and eventually back to the black
of night, is a time marker that everyone can relate to because it does not
change from location to location, or decade to decade. There are twenty-
four hours in a day, and since each hour passes quickly, as referenced in
lines 3 and 4, it would stand to reason that each day would pass quickly
as well. Since each day passes quickly, then it would also make sense
for the seasons to change and years to pass by much faster than we
would like for them to.
The entirety of the poem offers several different indications of time
passing. It touches on changes from one hour to the next, season to
season, and year to year. The poem is short and does not take much
time to read, which can be taken as another indication of how quickly
time passes. This poem is one that will have relevance to everyone for
centuries because the passage of time does not change from year to
year, or decade to decade. While humankind has changed the way they
track the passage of time, the concept of time passing has gone through
very few changes over the millenia. Humankind started tracking time by
hunting seasons and what animals were available for hunting. As
humanity transitioned from hunters and gatherers to farmers, they then
began to track time by planting and harvest seasons. Humanity no
longer relies on planting and harvesting alone for survival, so
timekeeping methods have changed once again, and the passage of
time is now tracked in hours and minutes. Gold is an easily broken metal
that is very soft and malleable, with an always changing fair market
value that does not maintain consistency at any given time.
Frost, R. (1923). Nothing gold can stay. In L.G. Kirszner & S.R. Mandell
(Eds.), Compact Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing [VitalSource digital
version] (p. 749). Boston, MA: Cengage, Inc.
Running head: ANALYSIS OF TO MY DEAR AND LOVING HUSBAND 1
ANALYSIS OF TO MY DEAR AND LOVING HUSBAND 2
Poetry Analysis of “To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet
Love and attachment in society today are terms that often feel extinct. People do not
persevere through trials of life together in marriages as they did in the past. Can one imagine a
love so deep that they pray for it to last through the afterlife? “If ever two were one, then surely
we. If ever man were loved by wife, than thee”(Bradstreet, 1678, lines 1-2). These are the first
two lines that introduce the amount of love for a husband in the writings of Anne Bradstreet’s
poem, “to my dear and loving husband”. This poem is a beautiful love letter to her husband that
many could only dream about in society today. Anne Bradstreet uses multiple images to describe
her feelings for her husband in a theme of love and attachment throughout the poem.
The first images that are used to describe the amount of Love and attachment that
Bradstreet has for her husband, is in the lines, “I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
or all the riches that the East doth hold” (Bradstreet, 1678, lines 5 and 6). Bradstreet gives a
vision through her words of “gold” and “riches”, that her love for her husband is more valuable
to her than any expensive earthly possessions or materials. Bradstreet proves an infinite amount
of love for her husband using the words “whole mines” and “all the riches”. Bradstreet seems to
be making sure the reader of the poem understands that her love for her husband is larger than an
entirety of anything else. However, today’s society might have trouble envisioning where
specifically “East” is being referred to.
The second image in Bradstreet’s poem is in the lines, “My love is such that rivers cannot
quench, nor ought but love from thee give recompense” (Bradstreet, 1678, lines 7-8). These lines
give the notion that Bradstreet’s love and attachment for her husband is overflowing. There is the
feeling from the use of the term “quench”, that nothing else could satisfy Bradstreet other than
ANALYSIS OF TO MY DEAR AND LOVING HUSBAND 3
the love she has for her husband. The term might be a comparison of her love to that of flowing
rivers as well. The term “recompense” gives the impression that there is no other compensation
or reward that Bradstreet would take over the love from her husband. The line gives the vision of
the love from her husband being significant.
The last image that Bradstreet writes is in the line, “The heavens reward thee manifold, I
pray” (Bradstreet, 1678, line 10). There is a sense that Bradstreet is in hopes of love lasting
through eternity. There is a vision of Bradstreet praying for the “heavens” to reward her with her
husband in the afterlife in this line. Within the lines, “Then while we live, in love let’s so
persever, That when we live no more, we may live ever.”(Bradstreet, 1678, lines 11-12), give a
detailed vision of Bradstreet’s attempt to hold onto the love and attachment to her husband
through all the days of her life. The term “persever” shows the strength of the love that
Bradstreet has for her husband. “Persever” gives the notion that Bradstreet feels that she can live
through all obstacles in life with her husband because of their undying love.
Bradstreet brings love alive for her husband in her poem “To My Dear and Loving
Husband”. In all quatrains of the poem, Bradstreet gives images in order to prove her love and
attachment to her husband is always greater than anything else. It is easy to visualize that her
love for her husband always wins in comparison or in temptation of something else because of
the type of earthly possessions that she has in her poem. Bradstreet even dares other women to
try and compare the love of their husbands to that of her husband, in the lines, “ If ever wife was
happy in a man, Compare with me, ye women, if you can.” (Bradstreet, 1678, lines 1-2). Writing
such a poem would be a true testament to prove the amount of love and attachment for a
ANALYSIS OF TO MY DEAR AND LOVING HUSBAND 4
husband. Bradstreet has successfully brought to life her love and attachment of her husband for
eternity.
References
Bradstreet, A. (1678). To my dear and loving husband. In L.G. Kirszner & S.R. Mandell (Eds.),
Compact Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing [VitalSource digital version] (p. 775).
Boston, MA: Cengage.